Chelsea v Manchester City Betting Tip & Odds: This really has the potential for plenty of goals, and would therefore look in the goal scorer market. Chelsea’s Frank Lampard has five in his last nine against City, a good strike rate and is priced very well at 3/1 with William Hill as Anytime Scorer and worth a shot really. This could go anywhere, with City average over three goals per game away from home and Chelsea averaging just fewer than three per game at home.
Chelsea to win: 6/4 at Boylesports
Draw: 12/5 at SkyBet
Manchester City to win: 2/1 at Bet365
EPL Match Preview: After contrasting fortunes in the Champions League midweek, these two giants will battle it out on Monday night at Stamford Bridge in Chelsea v Man City betting. Chelsea look to be finding a bit of form, and now need to show the Premier League title challengers that they are not going to roll over without a fight. They must show the likes of Man City and Man Utd that they can compete, after losing to United, Arsenal and Liverpool already this season. As for Man City, they are unbeaten for the season and will have seen United close the gap on them to two points after Saturday’s matches, and so need to show a big response to their city rivals. We are expecting goals from these two high scoring teams and it could all come down to a matter of whose defence will stand up to the expected onslaughts the best. Chelsea need a big win to start eating into the ten point lead City have over them, because if they fall thirteen points behind after Monday, there doesn’t look to be a lot of hope for them catching up. Will City’s league title prospects have been boosted by their Champions League exit? Will the Drogba inspired Chelsea be able to push on from their upswing in form?
Chelsea Form: Maybe, just maybe Chelsea are starting to find their feet a little bit after a rough period in the Barclays Premier League. Their midweek performance at Stamford Bridge against Valencia in the Champions League was one of their best of the season, inspired by a resurgent Didier Drogba who was fired up and so therefore pulled the team with him. Slowly but surely Andre Villas Boas is putting his own stamp on the club, changing up the personnel and looking as if he is more in control. He hasn’t been afraid to drop Frank Lampard for example, and doesn’t seem to be bowing to any pressure to throw on Fernando Torres despite the big money spent on him. The increasingly impressive Spaniard Romelu has earned his spot in the defensive midfield role over Mikel and with Salomon Kalou, Nicolas Anelka and Alex being discussed as gearing up for possible departures, Chelsea are getting younger and moving forward. They were happy to enough to play a very efficient counter attacking game against Valencia, conceding possession but striking hard breaking forward. Maybe this is the way forward for Chelsea, who have also dropped their back line deeper to cut out some of the exposure. It has been no secret that the Blues have not been in great form at home, losing two league matches there already against Arsenal and Liverpool. That is two defeats in their last three Premier League home matches now, with seven goals conceded. However, they did shape up and rattle out a comfortable 3-0 home win over Wolves last time out, before beating Newcastle away by the same scoreline. If you are looking for signs that their back line has tightened up, with a consistent pairing of David Luiz and John Terry, then have kept three clean sheets in their last four matches. However, the Blues will be without Luiz who is serving a ban, meaning Ivanovic will probably come into the centre, with Jose Bosingwa returning to right back. The Blues have hit 19 home goals, but have conceded a surprising eleven. So they still average 2.71 goals per match at home, but are also conceding on average 1.5 goals per match. All of Chelsea’s home games have finished over 2.5 goals this season. Chelsea have been most dangerous in the last fifteen minutes of matches, but that is also the period in which they have conceded the most goals. Daniel Sturridge is top scorer for the club with seven, with Frank Lampard just behind him on six. Sitting in fifth place ten points back of leaders Man City, isn’t a great place and this will be a huge three points for them to gun for.
Manchester City Form: There really is little faulting of Manchester City’s form this season, as they have been an attacking powerhouse. While their defence has been one of the best in the Premier League, they haven’t kept a clean sheet in seven league matches now, and they have only kept a clean sheet in just one of their seven away matches this season. However, those little hiccups have easily been glossed over because they have been so powerful going forward, scoring 48 goals in just 14 league matches, which is a phenomenal rate. They are averaging 3.4 goals per game both home and away which is remarkable, and the only difference is that they have conceded nine on the road compared to four at home. Their last away match produced a 1-1 draw at Liverpool after going down to ten men, which ended a three game winning streak on the road. That is a run of 17 league matches without defeat now for Manchester City, and boss Roberto Mancini clearly has built potential winners here. It will be interesting to see how they perform after confidently beating Bayern Munich, but exiting the Champions League. City could be missing Micah Richards for the match, and Aleksandar Kolarov definitely remains on the sidelines. Mancini’s men have won five and draw two on the road this season, once on their recent trip to Anfield, and once at Craven Cottage where they blew a two nil lead. But they have fired in those 24 goals and do hold a seven match unbeaten streak away from home for the season. Haven’t been too proficient at keeping clean sheets though, which suggests there could be a plenty of goals in this match. City have been most proficient in the second half of matches, with 73% of all their goals coming after the half time break, and they have scored first in 93% of their league matches this season. SergioAguero is top scorer for them on eleven, with Edin Dzeko weighing in with ten and Mario Balotelli with seven as well.
Head to Head: Chelsea do have pretty good home form against the Citizens, having won five of the last six against City, and have only lost once in the last thirteen against Monday’s opponents. Frank Lampard could be drafted back into the side, as he has five goals in his last nine games against Man City. Out of 69 meetings between the two at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have won 35, while City have won on just 14 visits there. Last season’s corresponding fixture ended in a 2-0 win for Chelsea.
Online Bookmaker Promotion: Online bookmaker Bet365 have a Free bet promotion running for your Chelsea v Man City betting. Place a pre match bet on the game, and when you follow that up with a subsequent Live In Play bet on the match, if your first In Play bet loses, then Bet365 will give you a free bet to the value of your highest pre match stake! This is superb coverage for your football betting on this one and well worth taking advantage of, as your first live in play bet on the match is pretty much going to be a risk free one! Tremendous value in taking this promotion. Online bookmaker Bet365 offer a free £200 bet for new customers registering an account with them.
